Managing Your Projects

Derek Damron

July 13, 2016

Or…

Or…

 

How to plan just a little bit so it’s easy to get shit done

Why bother?

Why bother?

1. The good habits you build now will pay dividends in the future

Why bother?

1. The good habits you build now will pay dividends in the future

Why bother?

1. The good habits you build now will pay dividends in the future

Why bother?

2. It feels good when you finish things

Why bother?

2. It feels good when you finish things

What this talk is not

 

  • A list of random tasks to make you better
  • An advertisement for a particular tool
  • An exhaustive manual of being productive

What this talk is

 

A framework for working

quickly and effectively

What’s the secret?

What’s the secret?

 

Stop and think before you dive in

What’s the secret?

 

Stop and think before you dive in

What’s so special about that?

 

Thinking first helps you:

  • Prioritize tasks
  • Maintain perspective
  • Anticipate roadblocks

How should I think?

 

  1. Map out the big steps
  2. Break the big steps into bite-sized chunks
  3. Identify potential surprises

Example 1

Example 1

 

We want to assess whether some new variables improve a previous model fit

Example 1

 

We want to assess whether some new variables improve a previous model fit

Let’s break it down

1. Big Steps

1. Big Steps

2. Bite-sized Chunks

2. Bite-sized Chunks

3. Surprises?

3. Surprises?

Some observations

Communication often gets very little love

Some observations

2. Bite-sized chunks should be both mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

Example 2

Example 2

 

Example 2

 

MC Redux